Exploring Joran van der Sloot's Life Inside One of the World's Toughest Prisons: Everything to Know About Peru's Notorious Challapalca Facility

Joran van der Sloot remains behind bars at a maximum-security prison in Peru after the killings of Natalee Holloway and Stephany Flores.

The Challapalca prison, which the killer has called the "toughest prison in the world," opened its doors in August 1997 with 51 inmates accused of common crimes. It became operational about two years after Peru's Ministry of Justice pushed to build Establecimiento Penitenciario de Régimen Especial de Challapalca, or Challapalca Special Regime Penitentiary Establishment, "at 5,000 meters above sea level."

Earlier reports noted the facility had been originally designed to accommodate a maximum of 40 prisoners, who are categorized as "de dificil readaptación" or "difficult to rehabilitate," according to non-governmental organization Amnesty International.

Perched in a remote region of Peru, Challapalca faces freezing temperatures and thin air, which contribute to serious health problems among inmates. The Peruvian prison's location is so isolated that cell signals do not reach it.

In a July 1997 document published by Amnesty International, the organization revealed the independent Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos consulted high-altitude medical experts regarding the effects of detaining prisoners in Challapalca.

Dr. Carlos Monge Casinelli, a Peruvian physician expert in high altitude medicine, said, "Life is possible at 5,200 metres above sea level but health is seriously affected. This is the opinion of international high altitude experts. In my opinion a Penitentiary Establishment at that height can only be considered as making deliberate provision for a possible death penalty."

Additionally, a team from Peru's Defensoría del Pueblo – Ombudsman's Office issued a press bulletin after a visit to the facility, which read, "According to information compiled from a medical point of view, survival at more than 4,000 metres above sea level is difficult and presents serious risks to human health."

In 2012, 17 inmates escaped from prison after allegedly paying bribes to prison officials. Local media outlets confirmed they were all recaptured, but one died.

Officials said the deceased inmate died of hypothermia, contradicting reports that claimed the unnamed man had suffered bullet wounds to the chest.

Prison authority INPE said the entire staff of the Challapalca at the time had been replaced following the allegations of corrupt officials within the organization.

While serving his sentence, van der Sloot reportedly attempted to commit suicide by tying a part of a blanket around his neck in his cell in December 2025. Authorities said he was close to death when guards discovered him while distributing breakfast.

The killer was taken to the infirmary, where he was treated and stabilized. He was then placed on suicide watch.

Following the Dutch national's suicide attempt, prison officials conducted a recorded interview in which he spoke about his time inside what he called "the toughest prison in the world."

"Every day I see that the situation is getting worse for us inmates," he said. "You can't be with your family, you can't touch them or hug them."

In the interview, van der Sloot said his mind was telling him he "didn't want to live anymore."

Decades after Challapalca was opened, human rights groups have demanded that the prison be shut down.

Amnesty International explained the organization believes "certain minimum human rights standards" for the prisoners "must at all times and in all places be observed."

It submitted an appeal addressed to the Minister of Justice and the National Prisons Institute president to close Challapalca in 2004 while also urging others to support the organization by writing to the Peruvian authorities or Peruvian Embassy.